[Tsundoku]

Seemed appropriate:

[worry]

I'm actually hoping this will be the tenor of the opposition in terms of policy. Most states are "red" in terms of governorships, which is a crying shame (and possibly a disaster if they ever hit 75%), and I definitely feel extremely fortunate and safer than average living in California. I wish Dems did a lot more to win states over cuz it can be just as important as the federal level for some issues. But yeah, I feel good as far as our clout can carry us.
https://www.theatlan...ds-like/510899/

[worry]

Also the "bias" against Trump is based on things he's actually said and done. Treating "bias" universally as a pejorative is part of the problem, not the solution. Trump is an actual racist, an actual sexual predator, an actual climate change denier, an actual con man, an actual kleptocrat-in-the-making. I am biased against all that, and I would hope our citizenry on the whole -- including our most respected journalists -- is likewise biased.

This thorough rundown of Trump and co.'s very likely gutting of U.S. Civil Rights http://prospect.org/...0-vu-only-worse is biased. It's not the same thing as sour grapes about losing an election, and it's certainly not the same thing as being so opposed to a certain politician that out of nowhere you claim -- just to pluck something out of thin air -- they are the literal founder of ISIS.

Conflating all bias is at best useless, and more often in practice, obfuscation for some truly heinous behaviors.

[amphibian]

HoosierDaddy, on 17 December 2016 - 09:34 PM, said:

The FORMER Head of the CIA. Don't be needlessly pedantic, Amph.

He went from head of CIA to Vice President in four years, stayed there for eight years, and then became President.

It's not pedantic to point this out. This really happened.

[worry]

Some Trump voters' reactions to his cabinet picks: https://apnews.com/486286cf67c847ad94ffd24ac76eb56f/Trump-Cabinet-excites-his-voters:-'We-have-to-trust-him

They're not all 100% hunky dory, but enough of them reflect the following sentiment that it inspires that particular combination of exasperation, pity, and depression that I'm not sure English has a word for.
*************************
These voters, who often echo Trump's own campaign statements, say the affluence of his Cabinet picks is an advantage, not a liability.<br data-text="true">"The guys he's putting in there, they don't need to do this. They're independently wealthy," said Trump voter Roger Mansfield, 67, a small business owner in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. "They don't need any more money. The motivation is to make pragmatic, rational business decisions. What could be wrong about that?"
*************************
I don't know why, but I am still surprised that conservative reality so often means distrusting "the government" except for the most corrupt, moneyed, militaristic, heavy-handed, plutocratic despots available. It's like at such a high level of cognitive dissonance that it short circuits my response to them, so it's less political opposition and more "Wow what happened to you? Are you sure you're all right? You may have suffered a brain injury." Like it's that Tea Party "keep government out of my Medicare" attitude writ large. Going to the DMV is a pain in the butt, so the answer is to shrink government, not open more DMVs. And most of all, trust President Elect Bernie Madoff with your life savings. It's like watching someone you care about make a horrible horrible mistake, but for the next four years.

[worry]

As usual, someone wiser than myself offers a framework for building that bridge to them, and not surprisingly it involves a distillation of that Bernie Sanders Town Hall I mentioned a few posts back. This article is really good, not too long, and reminds me to be a bit less cynical: https://www.jacobinm...own-hall-trump/

[Grief]

Seeing people say "they're rich already, they don't need more money" as though that has a track record of preventing incredibly rich people from lining their pockets is just... there's not a word, as you say. How do they think the incredibly rich became so rich in the first place? But perhaps that's it. Maybe the belief is rooted in the meritocratic 'American Dream'; a belief that these people must be hugely wealthy because they were justly rewarded for their hard work. It seems pretty baffling to me.

[Macros]

Niaeve possibly?

I know that disgustingly rich people have dragon fever.
I just don't understand it. If you have £100m, will having £105m make any difference to your life at all?

It's like a player earning £300k a week doing adverts for tons of products. Why bother?

[Aptorian]

You call it dragon fever but I think it's a question of needs and desires shifting as your wealth grows.

A normal person will be willing to pay 50 dollars or so for a good meal at a restaurant. A multimillionaire will be willing to pay a couple thousand for a really good meal. Similar thing with clothes, furniture, vacations, child slaves, perfumes, etc.

Sure, if you grew up working class and never splurge, then your needs and desires will remain minimalistic. But after you get used to eating Beluga Caviar out of the ass of Brazilian super model it probably gets hard to go back to Fish and Chips at the local cheap and cheerful.

[EmperorMagus]

Apt, on 19 December 2016 - 07:55 PM, said:

A normal person will be willing to pay 50 dollars or so for a good meal at a restaurant. A multimillionaire will be willing to pay a couple thousand for a really good meal. Similar thing with clothes, furniture, vacations, child slaves, perfumes, etc.

One of these is not like the others. Not that I'm judging or anything...

[Macros]

Again Apt.
Having 100m and 105m in the bank, this will not affect your life. At all.
You see too execs gutting their companies to get a bigger bonus for them selves and it will not alter their life in the slightest they are already obscenely rich.
I dont get it personally, if I had £100m in the bank I wouldnt set foot in the office again, Id drop shop and spend the rest of my life plsying golf and drinking cocktails in the sunshine.

We're derailing.

Its something that exists and always has in recorded history, so people shouldnt be surprised by it.
Appointing anyone to government who is involved at a boardroom level of any large company is fucking madness, history has shown whst they will do.

No one who works in the treasury should be allowed to take senior positions in a bank after leaving their position (and chsnging regs when in office) looking at Sachsmans history of this they should all be fucking jailed

[amphibian]

There's a pervasive mindset that government = business and therefore CEOs are well situated to run various departments of gov't.

While the two are similar in some ways, a government should be willing to take losses in a way a business never would for the public interest. It's really a big ethical shift and the way Trump (and Reagan before him) set things up, the business people are going to set up a time bomb that'll go off in the next administration's time and extract what $ and power they can before that.

[Silencer]

On the money thing - bear in mind a lot of these people are like Trump. They do *not* have 100mil "in the bank". They are 'worth' 100mil (or whatever), but that consists of their investments, and also their companies and stock - none of which is liquid assets. While many of them still have obscenely large sums of cash available to them, it's not as simple as being able to throw cash around all the time - they do need to make money to sustain their lifestyle.
That doesn't hold true so much with the people earning annual remuneration in the tens of millions, but for a lot of people like Trump, they don't actually have that much real money.

[Mentalist]

Silencer, on 19 December 2016 - 11:57 PM, said:

On the money thing - bear in mind a lot of these people are like Trump. They do *not* have 100mil "in the bank". They are 'worth' 100mil (or whatever), but that consists of their investments, and also their companies and stock - none of which is liquid assets. While many of them still have obscenely large sums of cash available to them, it's not as simple as being able to throw cash around all the time - they do need to make money to sustain their lifestyle.
That doesn't hold true so much with the people earning annual remuneration in the tens of millions, but for a lot of people like Trump, they don't actually have that much real money.

You'd think that would be an indication that these people would be even MORE desperate to line their pockets with public money, and thus that it'd be an even worse idea to give them power.

But it would seem Americans like their delusions as much as Ukrainians (who also elected a millionaire 2 years ago. He started out 6th richest person in UA. Now he's number 1. All a coincidence, naturally)

[Nicodimas]

Mentalist, on 20 December 2016 - 02:34 AM, said:

Silencer, on 19 December 2016 - 11:57 PM, said:

On the money thing - bear in mind a lot of these people are like Trump. They do *not* have 100mil "in the bank". They are 'worth' 100mil (or whatever), but that consists of their investments, and also their companies and stock - none of which is liquid assets. While many of them still have obscenely large sums of cash available to them, it's not as simple as being able to throw cash around all the time - they do need to make money to sustain their lifestyle.
That doesn't hold true so much with the people earning annual remuneration in the tens of millions, but for a lot of people like Trump, they don't actually have that much real money.

You'd think that would be an indication that these people would be even MORE desperate to line their pockets with public money, and thus that it'd be an even worse idea to give them power.

But it would seem Americans like their delusions as much as Ukrainians (who also elected a millionaire 2 years ago. He started out 6th richest person in UA. Now he's number 1. All a coincidence, naturally)

@ Mentalist: People elected Trump really based off the fact they want to be in a better place. I got a job <yea!!!>, but my healthcare in AZ would have gone from $270-->$513/month in Jan as a single guy in good health in his 30's that's for the exchange too. Insane. Unemployed. People are suffering over here when their healthcare bill is basically a rent bill. Arizona may have been targeted more due to the politics of this state though <Mormons, Arpaio, Savers,etc>...which is really really wrong...but politics as normal...If I had a dependent..that would be fing unaffordable. People are actively having to go naked on insurance due to this.

I honestly can say we all should be hoping Trump pulls a Miracle. The climate as of today..is scary. I really don't think trump will get richer or his friends will. I worry that it all goes to shit ...and quick due to all the geopolitical stuff. Maybe that's what tptb wants.

<Note: Due to my new job I will longer be allowed to talk about certain stuff...I guess I am selling not just my time, but my opinion too...gotta survive......I signed stuff I'll just be super positive from now on..../truestory>

[amphibian]

Silencer, on 19 December 2016 - 11:57 PM, said:

On the money thing - bear in mind a lot of these people are like Trump. They do *not* have 100mil "in the bank". They are 'worth' 100mil (or whatever), but that consists of their investments, and also their companies and stock - none of which is liquid assets. While many of them still have obscenely large sums of cash available to them, it's not as simple as being able to throw cash around all the time - they do need to make money to sustain their lifestyle.
That doesn't hold true so much with the people earning annual remuneration in the tens of millions, but for a lot of people like Trump, they don't actually have that much real money.

I think there's at least two billionaires in the cabinet. They all have access to huge credit lines, extremely friendly deals, and business picking up things for them.

[worry]

Nicodimas, on 20 December 2016 - 04:00 AM, said:

I really don't think trump will get richer or his friends will.

http://thehill.com/h...trumps-dc-hotel

The Embassy of Kuwait reportedly switched the location of an event from a Four Seasons hotel to Donald Trump’s new hotel in Washington, D.C., citing pressure from members of Trump's organization.

http://www.nytimes.c...-sanctions.html

Rex Tillerson’s Company, Exxon, Has Billions at Stake Over Sanctions on Russia

http://www.theatlant...terests/508382/

Et cetera.
Save

[worry]

NDAs are one thing, Nico, but you signed away your right to generally discuss current events on a message board? I hope not. Nobody here's gonna snitch on you anyway!

[Nicodimas]

death rattle, on 20 December 2016 - 04:22 AM, said:

NDAs are one thing, Nico, but you signed away your right to generally discuss current events on a message board? I hope not. Nobody here's gonna snitch on you anyway!

I just can't discuss anything or comment on the market*, the broader implications, they even named a website I 'used' to go too I sadly can't bring it up now....(which makes me go their more-just shouldn't bring it up). Your Wrong though...they really can find ya <IP tracking>...you don't understand how much control a corporation has at this level...IP tracking is relatively easy..even under a alias.

The market will literally relate to everything the next couple years. good luck all. It all ties together.....

For me it's all about getting to the next level in terms of knowledge.

[Silencer]

Mentalist, on 20 December 2016 - 02:34 AM, said:

Silencer, on 19 December 2016 - 11:57 PM, said:

On the money thing - bear in mind a lot of these people are like Trump. They do *not* have 100mil "in the bank". They are 'worth' 100mil (or whatever), but that consists of their investments, and also their companies and stock - none of which is liquid assets. While many of them still have obscenely large sums of cash available to them, it's not as simple as being able to throw cash around all the time - they do need to make money to sustain their lifestyle.
That doesn't hold true so much with the people earning annual remuneration in the tens of millions, but for a lot of people like Trump, they don't actually have that much real money.

You'd think that would be an indication that these people would be even MORE desperate to line their pockets with public money, and thus that it'd be an even worse idea to give them power.

But it would seem Americans like their delusions as much as Ukrainians (who also elected a millionaire 2 years ago. He started out 6th richest person in UA. Now he's number 1. All a coincidence, naturally)

Oh, I don't disagree there at all. Just pointing out that there is a reason these "rich" businessmen seem to constantly want more money. It's because most of their wealth is theoretical.

Again, there's plenty of CEOs taking home actual cash payments in the ridiculous range - but there are plenty (like Trump) who have a lot of money in theory but very little in the bank.